Thursday, December 31, 2009

Ok, so technically it´s not Buenos Aires but it´s only 6 hours away, so i think i can still get away with a post about my trip there. My boyfriend´s family lives there and we went to spend Christmas with everyone and for a much needed break from the city. Santa Fe has a population of about 600,000 and there are at least that many mosquitos living there as well. Charles Darwin actually went there around 1833 and in his notes he wrote something like "the combination of humidity and heat during the siesta (afternoon) time and mosquitos make this place unliveable..." At two in the afternoon the city is like a ghost town for exactly this reason, and because the afternoon siesta here is a ritual. The people take a break from their work, close their shops, have lunch with their families and take a nap. Santa Fe is basically a mini version of Buenos Aires, there are some great buildings and a few things caught my eye...

This last photo is of a huge icecreamery or heladeria in Spanish. The decor is stainless steel, white and mint green and looks right out of the 1950s. They LOVE their icecream here in Argentina, there are almost as many heladerias as there are newspaper stands and i have to say, they give the Italians a run for their money in terms of the tastiest icecream around (icecream/gelati, it´s in the same family).

Sunday, December 13, 2009

About five minutes walk from my apartment there are a series of bridges that cross above the train lines in the suburb of Almagro. Sometimes I take a different route walking home from work and recently i came upon these paintings on the walls of one of these bridges. Next to the paintings there is a sign that says that all of the art is done by people that are living on the street and please do not paint over it. The initiative is called Arte Sin Techo, or Art Without a Ceiling, and they work with the community and have a cultural centre a few blocks from where i took these photos. The images remind me a little bit of Australian artist David Bromley.

I love the moustache on this girl! It´s a bit of a Chinese style moustache in that simple-ink-drawing kind of way and i love the result.

This picture is done in the style of a child running, with child-like clothing, but the face and the hair really make it look like an old lady. I love the contrast of the two ideas. What a great initiative this project is.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Last night I had my work´s christmas party at the Museo Metropolitano in Palermo Chico. It´s a beautiful building with a lovely courtyard and gardens and was constructed in 1928. It was a private residence until the 1980´s and it now features art exhibitions, music recitals and you can book the bar and courtyard for private functions.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

After work last wednesday night we all headed to Post Street Bar in Palermo to celebrate Jonathan´s birthday. The whole place is completely covered in stencils, including the bathrooms (which can help to pass the time there) and we spent the evening with cerveza on the rooftop terrace. They say that the stencil art is done by the most important street artists in Buenos Aires, and you don´t have to walk far from the bar to see that Buenos Aires is full of great street art and many creative people that are contributing to the art and design scene in Argentina.

About Me

I am an Australian who has been living in Buenos Aires, Argentina for four years. My perception of the city has changed as I have adapted to my environment and new home. I am somewhere between a tourist and a local and find beauty in my everyday environment.